LOW-IP, LLC — EAST BAY IT SERVICES
Cybersecurity Services | Bay Area
Low-IP delivers practical cybersecurity for East Bay and Bay Area small businesses — firewall hardening, endpoint protection, VPN, and incident response.
The security work we actually perform
Firewall & Perimeter Security
Firewall deployment and configuration across the platforms businesses actually run — Fortinet, Ubiquiti, MikroTik and other major security and networking brands — with rules, traffic inspection and logging configured as a layered defence rather than a single appliance.
VPN & Secure Remote Access
Covered in depth on our dedicated VPN & Network Security page — private VPN deployment, secure remote access and Zero-Trust architecture.
Endpoint Protection
Antivirus, EDR, and patch management across all workstations and servers to stop threats before they spread.
Network Segmentation & VLAN
Separate guest, IoT and corporate traffic with VLAN design that reflects how the business actually works — so a compromised account or device on one segment cannot reach the rest of the environment.
Security Audits & Assessments
We review the environment — permissions, access control, configuration, logging and what is exposed — and identify the areas and risks that need correcting. No scare tactics: you get a clear picture of where you stand and what deserves attention first.
Incident Response
Ransomware, data breaches and active intrusions are handled by our emergency function rather than the ordinary support queue. Same-day on-site response is available across the Bay Area, with dedicated teams covering different service areas. Response and after-hours coverage are set out under Emergency IT Support.
How we approach security work
Most small and mid-size businesses do not need more security products. They need the ones they already pay for to be configured properly, the permissions behind them to make sense, and someone to be able to tell what happened when something goes wrong.
We are vendor-neutral
We do not push one manufacturer. We recommend the platform or equipment that fits your environment, your requirements and the infrastructure you already have — which frequently means reconfiguring hardware that is perfectly sound rather than replacing it.
Layered, because any one control will eventually fail
Perimeter, segmentation, permissions, endpoint hygiene and logging each do a different job, and each one assumes the others can be bypassed. A firewall does not help once someone is already inside with valid credentials; segmentation and permission structure are what limit how far that goes.
Documented, and the documentation is yours
Documentation is maintained and shared live as the environment changes, and all relevant configuration and documentation is handed over to you. Your environment should never depend on us holding something back — if you bring in another provider tomorrow, they get what they need.
Where security usually breaks down
In our experience the overwhelming majority of security problems are not exotic. They come from people, from permissions nobody designed, and from nobody being able to see what happened.
People, not perimeters
User error and negligence account for most of what we are called in for — a link that should not have been clicked, a password reused from somewhere else, a file sent to the wrong recipient, a device connected to the network that should not have been. No appliance prevents this. What matters is how much damage it can do.
Permissions that were never designed
Access granted ad hoc over years and never reviewed. Everyone an administrator because it was easier. Shared logins nobody wants to untangle. Accounts still enabled for people who left. Weak access control turns an ordinary mistake into an environment-wide incident.
No record of what happened
Without auditing and logging, the question after an incident — who did what, when, and how far did it reach — has no answer. Insufficient logging does not cause the breach, but it is what turns a contained problem into an unbounded one.
Network segmentation, endpoint hygiene, a permission structure that reflects real roles, and auditing and logging that someone actually reviews are how these get mitigated. They do not stop people making mistakes. They limit what a mistake can reach, and they make it visible while it still matters.
How an engagement works
It starts with a conversation about your environment and what is actually concerning you. From there the work separates into two distinct stages, and the distinction matters.
Assessment — what needs attention
We review the environment and identify the areas, risks and points that need to be corrected: where permissions are too broad, where access control is weak, where configuration has drifted, where there is no logging, what is exposed. The assessment tells you what needs attention and why it matters.
Discovery — how it gets done
Discovery is a separate stage. It establishes the technical path: the architecture, the implementation method and the specific solution for your environment. Depending on scope, discovery may be a paid engagement in its own right — it is real design work, not a proposal exercise.
We are direct about that split rather than blurring it. An assessment can tell you the door is unlocked without being the same thing as designing the lock.
Cybersecurity — Frequently Asked Questions
What does a cybersecurity engagement actually involve?
An assessment first — we review the environment and identify the areas, risks and points that need correcting, and you get a clear picture of where you stand. If you decide to move forward, discovery establishes the technical path: architecture, implementation method and the specific solution. Depending on scope, discovery may be a paid stage in its own right. Implementation follows, either as a defined project or as part of ongoing support.
Do you replace our firewall, or work with what we already have?
Whichever genuinely fits. We are vendor-neutral and do not push one manufacturer — we recommend the platform or equipment that suits your environment, your requirements and your existing infrastructure. If the hardware is sound and simply configured poorly, reconfiguring it is usually the better answer. We work across Fortinet, Aruba, Ubiquiti, MikroTik and other major networking and security brands.
What is network segmentation, and why does it matter?
It means separating traffic that has no business seeing each other — guest wi-fi, IoT devices, staff machines and servers — into distinct VLANs. It matters because it changes what a single compromised account or device can reach. On a flat network the answer is everything.
How quickly can you respond to an active security incident?
Security incidents are handled by our emergency function rather than the ordinary support queue, with same-day on-site response available across the Bay Area and dedicated teams covering different service areas. Response times and after-hours coverage are set out under Emergency IT Support.
Do you work with small businesses, or only larger companies?
Small and mid-size businesses are the core of this work. The requirements differ in scale rather than in kind — a ten-person office and a hundred-person one both need sensible permissions, patched endpoints and a record of what happened.
Find out where you actually stand
An assessment identifies the risks and the areas that need correcting — before anyone talks about spending. No scare tactics.
Also serving: Oakland | San Jose | Walnut Creek | Fremont | Concord | San Ramon | Livermore
Specialty services: Law Firms | Cybersecurity | Small Business IT | IT Plans & Pricing